Advancement
by fetch-thranduilion
Summary: Amano finds a pendant, comes to Gaea, and is declared Emperor. The Madoushi plot the regrowth of Zaibach, and Dilandau has two women chasing him, except one's waving a sword. What's Gaea coming to? And why is it Leon's fault again?
1. The Pillar of Light

Aand here's yet ANOTHER Esca fic from me...I might be starting too many projects at once but...I needed a "during the day" project that wasn't depressing like "Ghosts" (here's how I write: every night I write a little of "White Nymph" in a notebook, then type a chapter once it's done; I schedule time for "Judecca" every other Tuesday--if you're bored, I suggest you check out my REMSG stuff as it's really my favorite project, especially "Judecca", which does indeed have Esca people in it--and to break up my homework I always have a chapter of something else open.) Wow, sorry for the shameless plug there. My bad.

Anyway, here's my attempt at an Escaflowne fanfic that doesn't revolve around an obscure...ah, who am I kidding? But at least everybody else should feature prominently...I don't own this. And if anyone knows which Madoushi goes with which name, please let me know. I'm dying here.

**Advancement, Episode 1: The Pillar of Light**

Black cloaks rustling around the young man's unconscious body, the four men huddled in a frantic conference. An ill omen, to be sure, had visited them in the sprawled figure on the hard metallic form--the necklace glimmering red around his neck even in the pale, flickering candlelight was proof of that. Yet these men had made their careers out of twisting omens to their favor. They would not be baffled so easily.

"What called him?"

"It's hard to tell. Yet nothing called our Lord here, when first he came. Perhaps it is the same with this one."

"Is it definite he's from the--"

"Look at him. What kind of clothes are those?"

"..."

"Exactly. He's another unknown element, that's for certain. The question, then, is not _how_ he came but _why_."

On the floor, the young man stirred restlessly, scowling at his sudden headache from hitting the floor. One of the black-cloaked men swiftly bent down and slipped something into the younger's mouth; he settled again, the anaesthetic pill buying the conspirators a bit more time to arrive at a course of action.

"The wheels of fate are moving again," than man who'd given the boy the pill said almost to himself. "But in what direction do they turn?"

"Towards us, of course," the eldest of the small gathering replied, speaking up for the first time. "Think on it. All the projects we embarked for the rebirth of the empire are completed--or will be shortly. We know where the prototype is and we have new soldiers for him. The Machine has been repaired and awaits one who can harness its power. Do we wait for the alliance to discover these, or do we take action first?"

"So what do you say we do?" one of his companions asked, adjusting his round glasses on his long nose.

The elder smiled, looking down at the sleeper. "Contact General Adelphos at the consortium in Palas. Tell him to call off the elections. We have found our country a new Emperor."

ooooooooo

The glowing pendant jerked the young king out of an unintended nap, causing him to start in his chair. All eyes in the meeting room turned to him; he covered the offending object with a gloved hand and averted his eyes, embarrassed.

"Van-sama?" his companion whispered once the meeting had continued. "What's wrong?"

"Hitomi's pendant," he whispered back. "Find Allen, Merle. I need to talk to him." Nodding, the catgirl bowed and slunk out of the room. Everyone let her go; she hadn't been contributing to the discussion anyway.

Shifting restlessly, Van snuck a peek at the pendant before focusing again on the speaker, a delegate from Cesario concerned about the energist exports coming from Asturia's portion of the now-divided Zaibach Empire. So much had happened since he had been given the red gem; yet it had never reacted to a thing before. What would set it off, in the middle of a perfectly normal day?--

No, he had to concentrate on the meeting. What was happening? Cesario thought they'd been duped by Asturia during the reconstructive partitioning of Zaibach a year ago. He had half a mind to speak out against the delegate, to call his bluff, but decided no good would come of it. During these meetings, he usually just stewed in his chair until the time came for Fanelia's representative to make a speech. Then he'd give his opinions on everything the others had said thus far and sit back down again. Not the most subtle or extravagant of systems, but it had worked for him so far.

It had also, the young king had been surprised to learn, earned him the favor of the last man in the room anyone would have thought likely to befriend Fanelia's king. General Adelphos Gein, head of the once-formidable Zaibach military, found the king's blunt, emotional honesty appealing after years of serving a leader who prized his secrets above all else. Though his proffered hand of friendship was slighted for a time by Van, who had been unable to even look at a Zaibach citizen without a slow rage boiling in his gut, the general's straightforward dealings in the councils and genuine concern for his country's citizens slowly chipped away the wall Van had put up around himself. Adelphos's belief in his people was admirable and his belief in his God even stronger--though Van found the last, in a man whose army had razed a peaceful country unprovoked, rather unsettling. Despite this, the king of Fanelia had come to have great expectations for the country that had once been his nemesis, as long as the head of the Red Copper Army was at the helm.

He rued those thoughts ironically moments later when a soldier dressed in full Zaibach regalia sprinted into the council chambers and began speaking in furious, hushed tones to the general. Adelphos listened patiently, eyes slowly widening until he finally stood and, interrupting the still-prattling self-righteous Cesarians, requested an immediate halt in proceedings due to unforeseen developments in Zaibach's capital. He needed to speak with some colleagues in the empire immediately and thus would be forced to return to his ship and communications equipment. Princess Eries, as host and head of the council during her father's illness and the absence of the heir-in-law to the Asturian throne, granted the request immediately; her shoulders sagged slightly with what Van took for a moment to possibly be relief. Which left Van, to his own satisfaction, able to seek out the man he'd sent Merle after.

"Her pendant glowed during the meeting," he reported plainly the minute Allen Schezar, younger sister in tow as per usual, entered the guest room given to Fanelian delegates. The knight's eyebrows contracted.

"Hitomi?...But why?"

"I don't know," Van replied grimly, though in reality his heart felt like it was suffocating in his chest. If the light from the pendant heralded what he thought it did--what he wished it would--nothing that could have happened in Zaibach could possibly dismay him now. After a year of waiting, of forcing himself to leave her alone, would he finally get the reunion he so shamefully wished for? "But there's a good chance, I think, that she's come back. Zaibach got upset about something almost immediately after. So either they have their own separate problem--or they've detected something. And they always knew before every time we were taken somewhere."

"But wouldn't she wish to--"

"She'd probably arrive in Fanelia again. It's where she expects me to be." Van paced the room, hand on the hilt of his sword in an old habit. "Allen, if she's back--"

"Go to her," Allen advised, stopping Van mid-pace with a supportive hand on the king's shoulder. "Fly to Hitomi. I'll make your apology for you to the council. You're the one she'd want to see first."

Van ducked his head, blushing. "You're not Fanelian. You can't."

"I'm sure they'll understand," said Allen, his voice misting over in wistful hope. "Celena has been asking so many questions about Hitomi..."

"Has she come?" the girl asked, threading her arm around her brother's. "I want to see her again."

He smoothed her ash-blond hair gently. "I hope so, Celena. Van, go ahead. Don't worry. We'll take care of things here. Go look for her."

Van smiled and headed for the door in as controlled a walk as he could; he felt like running or maybe even skipping. "Thank you. I'll be back soon."

oooooooooooo

Susumu Amano didn't know he was asleep. He didn't know he was in the basement of the palace of a country feared the world over for its technology, or that the men responsible for most of that technology were at that very moment deciding to add him to their next great plan. In his mind, he was five hours back in time and embroiled in a very irate long-distance phone conversation.

"Transferring during my senior year is just plain stupid!" he snapped into the receiver, normal good humor temporarily evaporated in the heat of the moment. "I don't see why we have to come over at all; you lasted a year without us just fine."

On the other end, his father sighed heavily. "Economics, Susumu. You think it's easy, paying rent on two apartments? Besides, it doesn't feel right keeping the family split like this. I don't like being alone in this flat and I'm sure it hasn't been easy for you or your mother."

Susumu sighed. He knew his father was right, knew he was being selfish. But still...England. It was so far away, so different. He'd be leaving an entire way of life behind...to say nothing of other things he'd have to abandon.

"Father, what about my activities? The track team needs me; I think we stand a chance of making nationals again if we just push ourselves a little harder, Wouldn't it help my college applications to have another national championship on my resume?"

"It would help them more to see you adjust well to a new environment. This isn't like you, Susumu. I don't want to have this discussion if you can't behave maturely about it. Put your mother on."

He slammed the receiver into the cradle instead, regretting his rashness almost immediately but too indignant to redial and apologize. He still hadn't told his father the real reason for his reluctance to move, wasn't sure the man would appreciate it. No one in his family save himself felt stirred by romanticism. None of them understood his feelings. They didn't even try.

He debated calling the girl whose face flitted into his mind but decided not to put her through that trial. Listening to her half-crazed boyfriend spew venom at his immediate family probably topped the list of ways Yukari didn't want to spend her Saturday afternoon. No, he respected her too much to put her through that. She felt free to confess all her emotions to him, and he kept them close in his heart. But his own personal life remained just that. He didn't consider it of interest to anyone but himself.

"Susumu? Who was that on the phone?" His mother walked into the room, carrying one of the many boxes she'd already started packing in preparation for the move. Rushing to her side, he took the box for her.

"Here, that's too heavy. I'll get it for you...oh, the phone? No one important."

"You sounded upset."

"I'm not. I'm fine. See?" He smiled. "Is there anything you need help with upstairs?"

"No, I think we're done for the day..."

"Then I'm going out. I'll be back soon." Stacking the box on top of a small pile of its brethren, he pulled on his sneakers and tried to walk casually out the apartment. The force with which he slammed the door shut betrayed his facade.

As soon as he was out of sight of the apartment complex, Susumu stretched and broke into a run. The evening air whistled through his chin-length brown hair, cooled his face and--hopefully--his temper. Given time to contemplate, he repented his self-absorption bitterly. Of course his father would want them all to be together. They were family, after all, and the man had been living alone in a foreign country for a year. Naturally he'd miss them. Susumu missed him. They'd never been close, but a father was a father and a son, a son.

He breathed deeply, trying to run the conflict out of his system, sweat it free through physical activity. Everything magically simplified itself while he was out running: nothing mattered but the next step forward and the wind in his face. Focused on one thing only--the goal toward which he sprinted--the rest of the world just slipped quietly away.

Presently his goal lived about thirty blocks from him, in the more suburban area of the city. He couldn't talk to Yukari about his problems, but he'd come across another mystery which her best friend would probably be eager to help him explore. Slapping his chest softly with each step, a red-and-silver pendant dangled from a chain around his neck; he'd found it in his mother's jewelry box as he helped her pack and asked if he could keep it. Her eyes had widened, but when he explained he merely wanted to show it to a friend of his who had once owned something similar, she had sighed and agreed. Since then, he'd experimented with the pendant: it behaved exactly the way the younger girl's had, swinging back and forth each second without slowing down. Hadn't she said hers was a gift from her grandmother?

But thinking of Kanzaki segwayed all too easily into thinking of Yukari, and he really didn't want to do that. If he did...no, it was no use, he was still angry no matter how much he feigned compliance; he didn't _want_ to go to England at all; he wanted to stay in the only home he'd ever known, with the most fantastic girlfriend a boy could ever have. Her good spirits...her friendly smile...her selfless concern for others...he would never run into another Yukari, and how could he let her go, knowing that?

_You must be joking! _a strange but familiar-sounding voice accused in his mind._He abandoned his home and his family to find some woman?_ _Pathetic._

"You don't understand," Susumu whispered to the unknown speaker. "You don't know her." Yukari...she had cared about him for so long, and he had good as ignored her, completely blind. But she'd forgiven him, given him another chance with her. Taking that chance was the best thing he'd ever done. The past year with her had been the best of his life, every day illuminated by her warmth and her mere presence. Could he let it end so soon?

_I've heard enough of this!_

"Then go away," he muttered, not in the mood to be berated by strange voice...but no, it wasn't strange at all. It was his own voice, perhaps a bit older. Condemning him. He was in no mood to be condemned by any one, and especially not himself.

"I can't help it," Amano pleaded through clenched teeth, the pendant's motion against his chest beating a tempo through his whole body. "I don't want to go. I want...I want something to happen so I can't go! I don't want to see my father again!" His eyes, bleary with tears, squeezed shut; something flashed brilliantly and suddenly his feet weren't pounding pavement any more...he was flying, floating away...he was midair...

Opening his eyes, he screamed and fell.

Then everything went black again.

oooooooo

His head hurt terribly; the landing, he thought, must have jarred it. The chronology had replayed itself in his mind, but he still couldn't bring his memories up to lying on a metallic floor lit only by what looked like blue gas candles. And he definitely didn't remember any old men in black-and-green cloaks.

Pushing his sore body off the floor, he sat and stared around. "Where..."

A flurry of activity greeted his motion.

"He has awoken!"

"He lives!"

"Do not forget..."

"Let me help you, Lord." One of the men--the oldest, it seemed, his face fierce above a pointed beard, took Susumu's arm and assisted him to his feet. "Allow me to welcome you to Gaea."

"...What?" Blinking, he looked around, completely flummoxed. "I don't know what you're..."

"Of course His Majesty is disoriented. The journey from the heavens is not an easy one. Allow me to explain." Removing his hand from Susumu's arm, the man rewrapped himself in his cloak in the same batlike manner as his colleagues. "In our empire's desperate hour of need, you have been sent do deliver us, just as our previous ruler descended from above to save us from desolation. Welcome to the Zaibach Empire, Emperor from the Mystic Moon."

"Excuse me?" Angry and frightened, Susumu spotted a window and rushed to it, determined to get at least his bearings before dealing with the strange men any further. A quick glance at the surroundings only served to confuse him further. Outside, a hazy green smog hung over a golden city; tilting his head upwards to try and ascertain his position from the night sky, he gasped. The moon was there, just as it should have been, if a bit too large. But next to it...

"You see?" asked the old man. "You have left your homeland for our benefit. The Mystic Moon, which you see above you, has sent you to us. This is your home now, Emperor of Zaibach."

One by one, the men sank into deep kneeling bows, capes crumpling around their feet and wreathing their prostrate forms further in shadows. Susumo balanced himself against the windowsill; on his chest, the pendant glowed. In the back of his mind, visions of a day he could not with his waking mind remember began to glimmer as well--memories of another flash of light, of a dragon and a boy who spoke in an alien tongue. And then another pillar had come, taking with it...

"Kanzaki," he breathed to himself, looking up at the blue-green planet hanging in the sky above him. "What's going on?"

oooooo

a/n: Thanks for reading! BTW, the story derives its name from the translation of Amano's first name, "Susumu"...I always thought it was odd they never bothered to explain why he looked like Allen, and wanted to try my hand at a continuation fic, so this came about. Oh, and all chapter titles are going to be named after stock Esca features (like wings, fate alterations, wishes, etc...)

Coming up next: Amano meets Adelphos, gets fed a bunch of lies, and tries his hand at altering fate. Van fights it, and someone gets caught in the crossfire...


	2. Dowsing

You know, if I owned Escaflowne, I wouldn't have pulled it from YouTube. But that's just me.

**Advancement, Episode 2: Dowsing**

"Amano-sempai?" Hitomi jerked forward in her chair, hand flying to her head as if to wipe away the vision stabbing her irises. It did not dim, though: he still burned himself into her sight, wreathed in light from above which seconds later retracted, taking him with it. Around his neck something blazed with reddish light, combined its aura with the cold blue pillar surrounding him; then all the lights dwindled, reduced to sparkles, and finally faded from view entirely. A strange occurrance--yet not one to which she was a stranger. How many times had she herself been privy to the same phenomenon?

Sitting back again, she took a deep breath and tried to think the vision through. It could be, she figured, perfectly symbolic--after all, wasn't he leaving to join his father in England soon? Her mind associated traveling between far-off places with such pillars of light, and thus when compelled to show her his departure it...

Oh, what was she doing? She'd never analyzed a vision before; they came true at face value every time. There was no denying it, then: her friend either soon would be or already was on his way to the planet she'd visited in just such a way a year ago. But why? Worry stabbed her gut and twisted it. Gaea was hardly a safe place under any circumstances, and they probably were still reeling in wake of the war. Who knew how they'd treat yet another mysterious stranger?

Grabbing her phone from her desk, she dialed his number. If the vision was a premonition and not concurrent, he deserved to at least be warned of what might happen to him. But would he believe her? He'd dismissed earlier tales of Gaea as little more than a romantic dream...

"Hello? Mrs. Amano? It's Hitomi. Is...oh. He went out? I see. Thank you. Do you know where he was...you don't? All right.

"Um." She swallowed heavily, aware of the woman on the other line's curiosity at her strange behavior and unsure how to phrase her next thought, but feeling she had a duty to speak out anyway. "Mrs. Amano, this may sound strange, but...if he doesn't come home today, don't get too worried. I think I know where he's going. There are good people there. He'll be fine." She had to believe it. She had to believe he would meet up with Van or Allen or someone she knew and who would look after him. She'd been incredibly lucky in that aspect of her journey: never once had her caretakers abandoned her to flounder in the alien culture and world. "So just...just keep believing he'll return and you'll see him again soon enough." Not giving the woman time to reply, Hitomi hung up, then immediately dialed a different number.

"Yukari. Yukari, pick up the phone..." Sighing deeply, Hitomi closed her eyes and prayed to the latent powers tying her world and the one she now could see floating in the sky. _Please, let someone look after Amano-sempai for Yukari and me. Don't leave him all alone on Gaea without help. Let there be someone there to watch out for him until they can get him home._

"Look, Yukari," she said into the receiver, and her voice shook despite herself. "It's about Amano-sempai."

ooooooooo

Head bowed and staring at his hands, Susumu sat in silence, mind trying to process everything the men in black cloaks--_Madoushi_, he corrected himself, _they call themselves Madoushi--_had told him. _This Gaea place has been here for centuries and we can't see it, but they can see Earth, which they call the Mystic Moon...their last Emperor was from Earth, so they automatically assume I've been sent to fulfill the same function; that's awfully superstitious for people who pride themselves on their science...this pendant has the power to--what was it? Change fate? What proof do they have that fate even exists?_ The most disconcerting thing about the whole affair, additionally, nagged the corners of his thought process--he was sure Hitomi had told him something about this place, had been here--hazily he thought he might have even seen her leave--seen her leave _twice_, in exactly the same way he had left the street--but he couldn't fit all the pieces together in his head sensibly. Something was missing. No...something had been rewritten.

"Are you all right, my Lord?" one of the Madoushi, a repellant man with glasses perched atop his long yet bulbous nose, asked in concern. "Can we do anything for you?"

"You can get me home," Susumu replied, looking up. "I'm sorry, but I really don't think you have the right man. I can't be your Emperor. And there are people back on Ea--back on the Mystic Moon who need me. I have to get back."

"But Lord!" protested a bearded Madoushi. "Would you desert Zaibach in her hour of need so callously? Would you let her be ripped apart by carrion?"

"That's right, my Emperor. The alliance will be the death of our people if you do not stand up to them. Divided as we are now, we cannot hold together for long. One by one, the provinces will fall to their conquerors and the people will suffer for a war which we did not cause."

Sighing, Susumu realized that he would not be getting help from this corner of the planet. And what they said...were things really so bad? Had he really landed in a ruined country?

"What happened?" he asked, crossing his arms and sitting back to listen.

The eldest Madoushi took upon himself the burden of relaying the tragedy. "Our last ruler, the Emperor Dornkirk, was a brilliant man with a glowing vision of an ideal future. He made, as a method of attaining this future, several foreign policy decisions which were blatantly misread by all other parties. The other nations of Gaea did not share his peaceful sentiments. They allied against us, and on the field of battle unleashed the most terrible weapon yet seen on the continent. Then they had the gall to blame _us_ for the war and heaped horrible war debts upon us, dividing our country into provinces to lord over."

"They claim they wish to help us rebuild," spat the bearded Madoushi. "In reality they are profiting at our expense."

"The machines Emperor Dornkirk built to bring about his ideal future have been reconstructed behind our enemies' backs," the eldest continued. "There is a simple way for you to see our plight, and to prove to yourself that you are worthy of leading us. You need only activate the Destiny Prognostication Engine again."

_Reactivate the what?_ "What sort of a thing is this Destiny Prog--this machine?" Susumu asked, frowning.

The Madoushi--all of them--smiled slowly. "Come, Majesty, and see."

ooooooo

"Van-sama."

Turning, he saw General Adelphos regarding him curiously. The young king couldn't blame the man; after all, it wasn't every day one walked down a hallway in the royal Asturian palace and saw a shirtless boy with one leg out the window about to drop to the pavement below. Retracting his leg and pulling his red shirt back on, Van blushed under his mop of dark hair. "General, I--"_I what? Was about to sprout wings? He'd hate me if he knew--if he doesn't already know._

"Never mind that." The general waved away the oddity of Van's original position. "There's something I think you should know. I wanted to tell you first, to give you time to think it over before those bastards in that meeting room get wind of this and choke on their own lungs." Van smiled, but only fleetingly. "I just received word from some--associates in the capital. They claim, odd as it sounds, that a new Emperor has descended from the Mystic Moon."

So it hadn't been Hitomi. Van's heart had already flown out that window in pursuit of the girl; it plummeted to the ground and slunk back to the pit of his stomach, where it sat in brooding, recalcitrant silence, distracting his mind from being able to focus on what the general had just said. "...Oh," he said finally, for lack of a better comment. "Well, excuse me then. " He needed to tell Allen not to start announce his absence...

"Van-sama, wait!" Adelphos reached out to catch the boy but stopped himself at the last minute. "I don't know if the visitor has been sent for my country or not, or even what sort of person he is. While I've no doubt the Madoushi have the empire's best interests at heart, I have no stomach for grand experimentation and plotting. They wish for me to speak with him, and I intend to do so immediately. But I would like you by my side. You have had dealings with the Mystic Moon before."

Van had his suspicions about the man's motives, but he wasn't about to refuse a look at any man claiming to be Zaibach's Emperor. What kind of a monster would make a claim like that after what had happened a year ago? If he was going to be fighting again so soon, at least he could get an early look at the enemy.

"Fair enough," he agreed, rubbing his thumb on the pommel of his sword hilt. The scar on his thumb from when he'd bound himself to his Energist abraded against his glove; would he have to don that white armor so soon after putting it to sleep? He'd had enough of war! Van cursed the new so-called Emperor, sight unseen, for threatening the peace his people had bought so dearly. For undoing the action for which his brother had given his life.

Adelphos smiled, or attempted something akin to a smile. "Thank you, Van-sama. I hope that this new development will only further the goodwill between Zaibach and the rest of Gaea."

_Sure you do._..Van liked and respected the Zaibach general. There was a world of difference between like and trust.

ooooooooo

"What the...I can see something!" Pendant glowing on his chest, Susumu gaped into the telescope attached to the late and often unlamented Dornkirk's gargantuan masterpiece of engineering. He'd climbed into the machine more to placate the Madoushi than anything else. It had never occurred to him that the thing might actually _work_.

"Perhaps it would be best, for your first experiment, to wait for General Adelphos to contact you," suggested the eldest Madoushi. "He can better explain our neighbors' current treachery."

A general? Susumu had a feeling that once he talked to this man, he'd be stuck in this country. Presenting himself to a general as the supposed new Emperor of Zaibach--how would he talk himself out of that? Polite acquiescence could only go so far. He wondered what the denizens of Gaea had accused Kanzaki of being. During her stay here, if he was placing the time of year right from the snatches of hazy recollections, the emperor would have still been alive...

"Who killed the last emperor?" he asked as a way of passing time (and hopefully leading to a well-defended denial of the position).

The Madoushi averted their eyes, flinching visibly. "Folken," one finally spat. "Traitor."

"He was once one of us."

"He grew too proud and wormed his way into the emperor's favor, only to turn on him."

"What happened to him?" Susumu asked, one eye still focused halfheartedly on his telescope but the other fixed on the men below him. All they had to say was that this Folken was still at large, and he would have the the valid excuse he needed...

"He died," the Madoushi replied, smiles creeping onto their already twisted faces. "In this very room."

Shivering, Susumu decided waiting for a good excuse was a waste of valuable time and turned his attention to trying to dislodge his body from the machine, but a voice booming from the sphere above the telescope demanded his immediate attention.

"Well? Hello?"

He peered through the telescope. Now his vision was completely obscured by the image of a man, a few years younger than the Madoushi, dressed in red armor. A tanned young man stood to his side, visibly uncomfortable with the situation. Something about boy seemed familiar, but Susumu focused on the armored man instead.

"Hello? General Adelphos?"

"Yes," the man conceded slowly. "And you are?"

"Amano Susumu," he replied. "I'm, um, from the Mystic Moon and..."

The man choked. "You?...You're the..."

Susumu smiled despite himself. "Unfortunately, yes." _Oh, now you've done it..._ "Though if you'll pardon my saying this, I'd rather not be. I have a home and friends back on the Mystic Moon that I need to get back to. I'm sorry to let you all down, but..."

"Hitomi Kanzaki," the boy interrupted suddenly. Adelphos turned to him in shock, as did Susumu, hope thrilling in his chest. The boy knew Hitomi! That meant...

"Yes, I know her, she's one of my closest friends. Did you know her?"

"Yes. This is hers." The boy held up a red pendant. "She gave it to me. How'd you get yours?"

"I found it," Susumu began. "In my mother's jewelry box."

"Your mother?" The Madoushi clustered to the railing separating them from Susumu's machine. "How did she come to have a pendant of Atlantis?"

Atlantis? Oh, now this was really getting to be too much...but it meshed with something Hitomi had said...

"How does the pendant work?" he asked the boy on the other end, now totally ignoring the general. "Can I use it to get home?"

"Your majesty, do not listen to him!" The boy's voice, like the general's, was broadcast throughout the room, and the Madoushi did not like what they were hearing. "That is Van Fanel, King of Fanelia, one of Zaibach's enemies!"

"Well, he's with one of Zaibach's generals," Susumu retorted, turning to them for a second. "That's all the reason I need to trust him. Now, Van-sama..."

"Wish," the boy replied simply; the Madoushi sputtered and Adelphos looked over curiously, apparently intrigued with the way this encounter was playing out. "Wish with all your heart and what you desire will happen. You can also look for things with the pendant, but I suggest just leaving."

"Van-sama!" rebuked the general. Susumu, however, smiled.

"Thank you, Van-sama. Very much. I'll tell Kanzaki--Hitomi--that I saw you. Ah...why did you mention her?" He'd never given an explanation, had he?

"You were with her when I met her," the boy replied reluctantly. "On the Mystic Moon." _I was? _ The sooner he was back home, the better.

"I see. Well, thank you again. General Adelphos, I apologize for taking up your valuable time and that I cannot serve your country in the position your colleagues evidently wish me to assume. But I assure you--I am _not_ an ideal candidate for Emperor. This is all probably for the best."

"Thank you," breathed the general with evident sincerity. "Best wishes for your journey home, Amano Susumu of the Mystic Moon. End transmission." And the scene winked out.

Ignoring the clamoring men below him, Susumu sat back in the chair and closed his eyes, focusing his mind on the pendant around his neck. _I want to go home. Take me home, to Yukari and Hitomi and, yes, my parents. I can't spend the last weeks before I leave Japan forever on some weird other world. Take me back to the Mystic Moon. Back to Earth. Back to Japan. Back to my home. _Holding the wish in his mind, he waited to be engulfed in light again.

Nothing happened. Frustrated, he tried again. _Take me back to Japan. Take me to my home again. I want to go home. Home. Home. Home. Home._ Still nothing. _Kanzaki, your friend made this sound so easy..._

The pendant stayed dark. Growing angry, Susumu scowled down at the Madoushi. "Well?" he asked. "Do you know anything about this? You mentioned Atlantis. You know what this thing is. Could you help, please?"

"Perhaps, my Lord," one of the Madoushi offered, "the pendant senses the uncertainty in your soul. Perhaps you do not really wish to return. You are meant to be here, Emperor Susumu. Think of what your coronation will do for the people of Zaibach! You will be granting an entire country new hope."

He opened his mouth to make a reply, then reconsidered. The man obviously had an agenda of his own, but...did that automatically make him wrong? _"You're quite the romantic, Kanzaki."_ He'd said that to her...had he?...when she related her story to him. Did the romantic in _him_ want to stay around, help these people? Hitomi had been gone for months and yet woke up on the same day...once...yet he remembered her being missing as well...what was wrong with his mind? Would he or wouldn't he return to Earth on the same day he left?

Sighing heavily, he forced himself to say it. "Well, you win for now. Looks like I can't get back right away."

"Thank you, my Lord," replied the eldest Madoushi. "We shall alert the people. Do you wish to contact General Adelphos again at the summit and inform him of your decision?"

"No, whatever he's doing he can probably better do without worrying about my permission. Just let him know I'm staying but for the time being he can do as he will, provided he reports back to me upon his return." Oh, what was he saying? He was eighteen years old, for goodness' sake. He couldn't run an empire. Running a track team was one thing, an entire country quite another. Susumu got the feeling Adelphos or whoever had been running the empire prior to his arrival would still make most of the day-to-day decisions. But if he could help the people in other ways...

"This pendant, supposing it works," he began slowly. "What are some things the empire needs that I could get with it?"

ooooooooo

The three boys sat in their cell, eyes dull and seemingly lifeless. It was the first day since their awakenings that the cloaked men had not visited and inspected them, made them demonstrate their athleticism and swordsmanship, but they did not notice. They were waiting for someone else, someone they did not know how they remembered, but they knew they lived for his sake alone. Until he arrived to give their lives meaning, they could only sit in silence.

The door creaked open; three heads--two blond and one brunette--swiveled apathetically to see who was coming. It was one of the men in the cloaks, the bald one with the glasses.

He gave them a smile and spoke the words that would bring his new experiments to complete consciousness. "_He_ is coming."

ooooooooo

"What do you want with a girl from another country?" Susumu asked suspiciously, peering through his telescope in an attempt to find the city called "Palas" anyway. _Picture what you want to see in your mind...well, they say she's sixteen years old and the sister of a prominent knight...she's probably in the palace...she's blond with blue eyes..._

"For most of her life, she lived here and served in our military," replied the eldest Madoushi. "Asturia stole her from us after a traumatic battle in which her entire unit was brutally massacred. The monstrosity of the so-called alliance knows no bounds. Her triumphant return...it would do the people good to see their army's star again."

"You let a woman fight?" Susumu was slightly taken aback; though hardly a chauvinist, he still harbored some admittedly old-fashioned ideas about the "gentler sex" that no lecture from Yukari could purge from his values.

The older man gave him a strange smile. "Not exactly." He refused to elaborate, however, opting to instead let Susumu focus all his attention on locating the young woman in question.

"Found her!" At first glance, she reminded him of Hitomi--she had the same short hair--but he quickly decided the similarity ended there. Her eyes had more dreams floating in them. Panning his vision across the room she stood in, he sucked in a breath. She was in the company of the boy who had tried to help him earlier, Van Fanel, who now had a girl with pink hair and--was that a _tail_?--hanging on his arm. Someone else had apparently just left; the door was swinging. The girl stared after whoever had just run out. "Brother?" she asked worriedly.

Well, if he was going to contact her, it was probably best to do so before her brother got back. "Celena?" he began, not entirely certain what he was going to ask. "Celena Schezar? Can you hear me?"

She started; her head whipped around the room. Good. He'd made contact. Now what?

"What should I ask her?" he in turn asked the Madoushi, uncertain what they really wanted of the young woman. "If she wants to come back to Zaibach?"

"Best not to, Lord," came the elder's reply as he watched the girl try to figure out where the voice had come from. Van and his long-eared friend seemed disturbed by her actions, but deaf to the voice that had called her name. "Bring her here. We wish to speak with her in person, without the interference of those who pretend to be her friends."

That would be a really brilliant start to his supposed reign--kidnapping the sister of a knight from another country. But if she was really as miserable as the Madoushi had made her sound...and it would be a good way to test the pendant...maybe it just needed to get warmed up. He'd bring the girl to him, not let her out of his sight to make sure the Madoushi didn't mistreat her in any way, then send her back to her family with a formal apology and be on his own way out. _You're using her, and you know it,_ accused his conscience. _You can't do that. Not to some innocent girl. For all you know, you'll start another war! This is none of your business. Get out of that machine and away from these men!_

Oh, and _then_ where would he go? He was a foreigner here. As long as he stayed in the palace, he'd have help acclimating. No, he couldn't just spirit the girl away, but...what if, even though reaching Earth had failed, he could transport himself across Gaea? He could talk to her and Van in person...figure out what to do from there...

"I'm going," he announced. The Madoushi set up an immediate outcry. He groaned. "Oh, fine. I'll try your way. But if this doesn't work, I _will_ go myself."

oooooooooo

The minute Celena jerked her head around, calling to a voice only she could hear, Van pulled his arm free of Merle's grip and wrapped his hand around the hilt of his sword. With the other hand he grabbed Hitomi's pendant, eyes darting around the room for the source of the problem. It had been a year, but he still felt uncomfortable around Allen's sister, amnesia or no amnesia. Allen had been more than willing to believe nothing bad would ever happen to Celena as long as he was around. Van subscribed to a belief system with striking parallels to paranoia.

"Who's there? Brother?" Celena asked. Merle slunk into a corner, nervous. "Van-sama..." she began.

"Quiet, Merle." He focused on the pendant. _What's wrong? Show me the problem. Show me..._

Slowly, faintly, Celena became outlined with a soft pink light in his vision. A voice drifted into Van's ears as well, and he listened. It was familiar...Allen? No, though it was similar.

_"Celena, the Madoushi are here with me. They want to know if you want to come back. They miss you, Celena. The people of Zaibach miss you."_

"I was in...Zaibach?" Celena's eyes glazed over as she tried to remember. "I don't know...Madoushi..." Thinking, she bit her lip harder than she'd intended to, and a bead of blood blossomed from the small wound. Curious, she wiped it off and stared at the blood; then, clutching her mouth, she fell suddenly to her knees and screamed.

Instantly Van was at her side, shaking her by the shoulders and yelling her name while focusing his mind solely on the pendant. _No! Don't take her back, whoever you are! Damn you, Zaibach..._He remembered where he'd heard that voice before, and it sickened him. _Hitomi's friend? I thought he'd gone home! What's he doing, actively aiding Zaibach? Bastard! Celena, no! Allen'll die if you go back..._

"Van-sama?" Merle whimpered, watching wide-eyed from the corner.

"Merle!" he commanded for the second time that day. "Find Allen!" Nodding shakily, she ran off, dropping to all fours in her haste. Van turned back to the quivering Celena and wished with all his might. _Stay Allen's sister! Stay Celena Schezar! _

_"Celena? Celena, what's wrong? Is he hurting you? Celena!" _A brilliant flash of light filled the room, and when it cleared the boy Van remembered from the Mystic Moon wrenched Celena from him, throwing him an indignant glare. "What were you doing to her!" he demanded.

"Give her back!" Van drew his sword but could not attack for fear of indeed hurting Celena, whose shivers seemed to be lessening in the presence of this warm, supportive man. Looking up into familiar blue eyes, she gave a weak smile. "Brother?" she asked quietly; the young man did not appear to hear her query but hugged her tighter to him all the same.

"Put that sword down. Can't you see you're scaring her?" The Mystic Moon boy grabbed his own pendant and closed his eyes. Between his fingers, light began to slip.

"NO!" Van screamed as Allen ran into the room, Merle hot on his heels. "Celena!" the knight cried, running towards his sister, then froze in his tracks.

Blue eyes met blue eyes, the same face stared at itself across the room, framed by blond hair on one side and brown on the other. Celena herself stared bewilderedly first at the man in the doorway, then at the one holding her in his arms. Time seemed to stop as the two blinked at each other, mirror-images contemplating the other in shock and confusion.

Van made a dash for Celena, trying to take advantage of the young man's momentary distraction, but the brunette recovered from the surprise and vanished, along with the young woman he held, into thin air just as Van's sword sliced harmlessly through where his head had been only moments before. In a fit of frustration, Van threw the sword across the room; it skittered across the floorboards and he stalked over to retrieve it, shaking in anger. _Damn it. Damn it all...now what? He said he was going to go home...I have to follow him. _But he could not calm down enough to channel his emotions into the pendant; it remained dark and cold.

For his part, Allen sank to his knees, normally pale face ashen as realization slowly sank in. "Celena..." he gasped. "Not again..."

"Allen!" Van helped the man stand up again but ended up supporting him. Embarrassed, he looked away as Merle took the knight's other arm and together they walked him back towards the Caeli headquarters. They'd gotten halfway down the hall when Allen, shrugging them both off, straightened.

"No, I'm fine...thank you both for your concern, but I can walk on my own." He gave them a weak, trembling smile. "Please don't trouble yourselves on my account."

"You don't look fine," observed Merle saucily. "Honestly, you're as bad as Van-sama sometimes." Van let the insult slide. "Anyway, Van-sama will get Celena back soon enough. Won't you?"

Van looked away, ashamed but hiding it. "I'll try," he promised. "Allen...I'm sorry."

"It's too late already, isn't it?" Allen asked quietly, turning his eyes towards the window and out at the world beyond. "There's nothing we can do now."

"You don't know--" Van began awkwardly, not comfortable with his role as consoler, when a faint flash of light illuminated the horizon, then faded. He joined Allen in staring out the window. Merle knelt and propped her chin on the sill. Together they watched the light flash and vanish once more.

"Zaibach," said Allen unnecessarily. "Celena."

Van wanted to say something brilliant, or wise, or at the very least non-patronizing. But he wasn't a diplomat or a philosopher; he didn't have a way with words that could tap into emotions and make things better. He was a warrior. So he said the only thing a warrior in his circumstance could.

"Allen." He put his hand on the knight's shoulder, forced their eyes to meet. "I swear on my honor as the King of Fanelia...Zaibach and their new Emperor will pay."

oooooooo

a/n: Do I really need to say what happens next chapter?

Oh, and I checked a map: if the light in Zaibach was very, very bright and extended very, very high, you probably could indeed see it from Palas. There's probably more I could say about stuff, but I'm tired and want to go to bed.

Thanks to everyone who read and/or reviewed!


	3. Alterations

Hi folks! I have an additional disclaimer beyond just "I don't own Escaflowne" this time...I also don't own the ideas for gigantic international meetings or divisions of Zaibach in continuation fics. Lots of people include these, but I swear I'm not trying to rip off anybody else (though I do feel uncreative...sigh). My reasoning is as follows: if you have a big meeting, you have lots of characters in one place; and if you're going to draw WWII parallels in Esca--why stop with the Energist bomb?

**Advancement, Episode 3: Alterations**

The room was too bright. He couldn't see anything. Blinking back water, he sat up on the table and stared at his hands, or at least where he thought his hands should be. Slowly they came into focus; he flexed his fingers and watched them stiffly respond. "Where am I..." he began, low voice shaking.

"Here, sir. Calm yourself," a voice said, and a glass of something was pressed into his hand. He took a sip, then drank greedily, throat sore from he knew not what and savoring his sensation of taste again as the tangy fruit alcohol washed over his tongue. Again? Had he been deprived of it? What had happened to him...

"Where's Jajuka?" he croaked, putting down the empty glass and wincing as a sudden headache split across his forehead.

"He died, sir. But we're still here." A gloved hand took his, held it tight. "We're ready to serve you."

_Dead? Then who..._Slowly he forced his stiff neck to pivot towards the direction of the voice. The empty wineglass crashed to the floor in pieces as he slid abruptly off the table in shock. All thoughts of his former part-canine caretaker vanished. A giddy, disbelieving smile slid onto his face, eyes soaking in three faces he never thought he would see again. He'd watched them die...and yet...

"You're here," he whispered weakly as the three boys in blue armor helped their commander find his feet again. "You're alive."

They bowed. "And we are ready to serve you, Dilandau-sama."

ooooooo

Two black-cloaked men listened to the reunion outside the laboratory door.

"So all four alterations were successful?" one asked quietly. His companion nodded.

"We believe so. We'll have to watch the replacements to ensure nothing goes wrong there, but as it worked with the prototype no complications are expected as long as they don't undergo extreme trauma. Extra precautions must be taken, however, that the families receive no word of their sons' supposed return. They might connect it with the other disappearances."

"Understood. And the Emperor's reaction?"

"He does not yet know. Garufo sent him on a tour of the capital to ensure he did not witness the alteration and to spark the desire for change in his heart. Thus we were able to power our machines to the fullest extent once more."

"The Emperor's connection to his token is strong. Should we inquire further into this?"

"All will become clear in time. For now, it is enough that we keep him motivated to change Gaea's future. The fact that he could not return to the Mystic Moon proves it: this may have begun on our part as a ruse, but destiny means him to be here. Fate is on our side this time."

"But to what end?"

The other man smiled. "We can change the end. Does the original really matter?"

ooooooo

The morning dawned bright and crisp, but Allen Schezar was in no condition to greet it. On her perch above his head, his white owl Natal hooted nervously, unaccustomed to her master's joining her in nocturnal activity. Not that he had done much all night: he'd paced the room for a while, then settled into an armchair by the fire and stared into the flames, lost in his own thoughts for hours. The fact that Celena had been spirited away again, this time literally before his very eyes, would have been enough on its own to send him on a downward spiral. But the kidnapper...

_I couldn't have imagined it,_ he brooded. _It really happened. He really took her, and he really looked like me. _Aside from the hair color and length, it was as if Allen's reflection in the mirror had stepped into the land of the living and snatched Celena from him. And he'd let it happen. He'd frozen like a statue--he, Knight Caeli Allen Schezar, sworn protector of the innocent in general and his little sister in particular--and let that cursed reflection rob him of everything in his life that mattered to him. And now it was too late for her. He did not know if he dared to hope that she could be reclaimed again...

Damn it! People would ask after her today, would wonder where she had gone. Could he level such a charge against Zaibach? He had no proof, save Van and Merle's testimony, both people known to bear grudges against the empire--and what was more, if a knight of Asturia accused Zaibach of such a crime, he risked undoing what tenuous policies had been created to secure peace. Not to mention that he'd have to explain where Celena had been for the past ten years--which meant that even if the rest of the assembly believed him, his sister could legally be tried and perhaps executed for war crimes; such were the outstanding stipulations on the warrant for Dilandau Albatou's arrest. For the first time in his life Allen found himself sympathizing with his father's burning desire to cut himself free of all the entanglements of the world. If he only had to worry about himself, the situation would be so much simpler...but as it stood, he would have to suffer in silence and wait for a chance to try and save her. Yet even as his mind acknowledged the wisdom of the plan, his heart accused him of betrayal. Oh, Zaibach had been clever. They knew he couldn't do a thing.

_I suppose, _he mused, _that I could tell everyone who already knows the truth about Celena. Princess Eries is running this conference, and she has experience with this sort of thing; she might be able to work something out..._No, that was ridiculous. You could not negotiate with monsters like the Zaibach dogs who'd taken Celena from him. They never listened--or they pretended to and then stabbed you in the back the first chance they got. Hadn't his father trusted Isaac?

In his mind, he could see the brown-haired version of himself laugh at his indecision; he couldn't remember ever seeing his own face so happy. What right did that stupid boy have to smile? Did he rejoice in his double's anguish and despair? Allen had never heard of doppelgangers who could take a form without killing the original bearer, but what other solution could there be to the issue? Yet Van had said the man was from the Mystic Moon...what's more, that he had known Hitomi...Hitomi had called him by another name when first they met, hadn't she? Yet Hitomi wouldn't associate with a monster...it was possible, Allen conceded, that the Mystic Moon doppelganger could be a pawn of some darker power as well, and thus deserved his pity and not his condemnation.

The concession, however, only dampened the burning pit in his stomach. Nothing could fully put it out.

oooooo

Susumu had tried without success to convince the Madoushi that he was better off taking his first tour of Zaibach's capital without being heralded as the new Emperor sent by the Mystic Moon to the people. So it was that he returned thoroughly exhausted, tired of being scrutinized by thousands of eyes in faces he didn't know and forced to acknowledge hundreds of bows from people he didn't consider his inferiors. It had been easy to pick out in the crowd the people who shared his own opinions of the situation--the flinty faces who appraised his strange clothing, his youth, and wrote him off as a poor, abrupt fraud who would have to be put down. But the looks that haunted him most adorned the rest of the citizens--they'd looked starved, hollow, and yet somehow miraculously refreshed. Trusting their Madoushi to do what was best for the empire, firm believers in the "fate" that summoned a chosen Emperor from the Mystic Moon yet again...angry and despairing in their country's loss, yet rejuvenated by the prospect of another chance...those newly-lit eyes would no doubt haunt his dreams accusingly once he returned home. Assuming he ever made it back.

"The summit ought to know about me by now," he commented, collapsing into a chair. "Any word from General Adelphos?" He wanted to ask _"Any word from Celena's brother?" _but wondered if he'd ever get an answer. Bitterly he rued going along with _that_ scheme, whatever its end might have been. He would have called the whole thing off, had the fury in Van Fanel's eyes not scared him to the core. Had Celena not started shaking uncontrollably...what had set her off like that? Was she all right, now that she was back where the Madoushi attested she belonged?

"No, my Lord," one of the robed men said, and Susumu had to remind himself the reply regarded his earlier question about the general, not about Celena Schezar. "I take it the people responded well to your arrival."

"Some," he admitted wearily, fingering his temples and wondering not for the first time exactly what the hell he thought he was doing. He had to get out, before those poor people's hopes were raised any higher. At the very least, he had to renounce this whole "Emperor" madness. Too bad the Madoushi weren't so keen on the idea...he had to get away...but there were still some unresolved issues here in the capital. "How is Celena?" he asked, taking the plunge despite his fear of the answer.

The man smiled. "Perfectly reacclimated to her surroundings. Don't worry about her any more. And our much-missed special-forces commander has returned. He awaits you, in fact, in the next room. Shall I send for him?"

"No need," a voice drawled from the doorway, and a boy no older than Susumu himself swaggered into the room, eyed the young man in the chair. Disdain flickered in his red-violet eyes. "So you're the new emperor these old men have selected?" he asked incredulously, then snorted. "Pathetic."

"May I present, your Majesty, Dilandau Albatou of the Red Copper Army," one of the ''old men" supplied belatedly. "Commander of the Dragonslayers elite squad." Dilandau smiled at his title, ran a finger down a scar on his right cheek absentmindedly as the man continued speaking. "They await your orders for deployment."

"We're not deploying anybody," Susumu half-moaned, sitting back in his chair. Dilandau's lower lip turned down in what might have been an indignant pout. He refused to stop staring at his new "Emperor," who in turn stared right back. The boy looked so young. He couldn't have been much older than Kanzaki. Or Yukari.

Oh, God, Yukari. What did she think had happened to him? She'd be out of her mind...and Hitomi...would she figure out where he'd vanished to? Why would she, though? His parents were probably furious at him...how immature it must look, seemingly running away from home because he didn't want to move...but they ought to know he knew better than to pull some ridiculous stunt.

Wait, who was he kidding? What else could he call the situation he was in? He had to get out, and fast. The appearance of this boy-captain, and the Madoushi's apparent eagerness for him to mobilize the army, proved that. Whatever plans the robed men were cooking for the future, he wanted no part of. But how to back down so completely they couldn't rope him back in?...And how to ensure that he did at least something for all those people who'd looked at him in hope?...He needed to consult with someone other than the Madoushi, completely free of their influence, and fast.

Smiling at Dilandau, he stood and offered the boy his hand. "Pardon my rudeness. It's a pleasure to meet you. I'm certain that your return can only signal prosperity for the empire." Staring at the outstretched hand in obvious revulsion, Dilandau refused to take it. A muscle twitched in his cheek, like he was debating whether or not to spit in his emperor's palm.

Susumu, however, finally had a plan and so refused to be deterred. "Would you do me the honor of escorting me to the international conference in Palas? I feel that, if I am to be a vital part of rebuilding this great nation, I must be present at such pivotal events." Dilandau's red eyes widened at the sound of the capital; his brows furrowed as he contemplated some plan of his own. The Madoushi, for their part, behaved exactly as Susumu had predicted. They panicked.

"But your Majesty! I thought it had been decided that--"

"You cannot doubt General Adelphos--"

"But you have so recently arrived, and know so little--"

"Enough," he snapped in what he hoped was an imperial tone; taken aback, the men settled into silence once more. "I have changed my mind upon seeing the people. The only person with anything to decide here is Dilandau. Now please procure a transport for me." Shakily, one of the Madoushi nodded and glided out of the room.

All eyes settled on Dilandau, who met them all with a sulky gaze like a predator in a cage. "Is something the matter?" he demanded, his hand on the hilt of his sword. His own eyes swept over to Susumu, now standing tall but still out-of-place. He laughed shortly, derisively. "What, you think I'm going to take orders from this--"

"Dilandau, we'll speak in the hall. Alone," Susumu added for the Madoushi's benefit. Taking the boy by the arm, he steered him into the hallway and, slamming his fist into a panel on the wall, shut the sliding door. Wrenching his arm free, Dilandau growled and assumed a fighting stance, venom practically dripping from his face.

"Don't you touch me, you--"

"Listen. I'm sorry about that." He spoke softly for fear of the cloaked men eavesdropping on the other side of the metal door. "Look, I don't want to be Emperor any more than you want me to, and that's the truth. I'm going to that meeting to talk things over with your General and hopefully get out of this madness while I still can, with plenty of official witnesses. Then I am going home. But I need someone around to help me play the role of Emperor until I gain admittance to the meeting, someone who'll help me fit in on Gaea." He didn't add that he wanted to keep the boy within arm's reach for fear of what might happen otherwise. In addition, Celena Schezar was in the military as well, wasn't she? Dilandau might be able to help him sort that mess out too.

Bowing low to the stupefied commander, Susumu pleaded quietly, "Please, help me out!"

Dilandau giggled. "You submit yourself to me?...You want me to go to Palas, where all the rulers are?...Answer me this." Suddenly, he snapped back to his professional, if haughty, military demeanor. "Is Fanelia represented?"

Susumu frowned, puzzled. "Yes, by their king. Is that a problem?"

Dilandau's smirking smile grew until it was nearly too large for his face. "Not at all. In fact, it's perfect. Glad to be of service, _Emperor_." Bowing mockingly, he marched off, presumably to marshal his troops. Bewildered, Susumu watched his back until he disappeared into a connecting hallway, victorious and yet feeling like he'd been tricked somehow anyway.

Mentally he assessed the number of questions he'd have to ask someone other than his cloaked would-be advisors: the pendant, the previous Emperor, the war, Dilandau, King Van, Celena, Celena's brother...Celena's brother, who looked exactly like him for reasons he hadn't had time to ponder...Celena's brother, who he could probably never look in the eye even when confronting him, so overwhelming was his shame.

"God, Kanzaki," he muttered before sliding open the door to inform the Madoushi of Dilandau's decision. "Did everyone act so strangely when you were here?"

o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

a/n: Well, that took longer than expected to write...next episode, the plot really picks up (becomes evident?) as Susumu tries to learn swordfighting and is tested sooner than he ever expected by someone out to get Dilandau. As for who...tee hee.

On a related note, I have decided to stop writing one of my other Escaflowne stories, "Ghosts", but I'm not taking it down as I plan on having it tie into this one. Everything I've written thus far except some details in the last part of the third chapter (as to which details, you'll find out next episode) and maybe the italicized bits are both valid and backstory for forthcoming events.

Susumu and Van and Dilandau and assassins, oh my...


	4. Unexpected Meetings

In addition to the fact that for some inexplicable reason I do not own Escaflowne, I have another disclaimer to make: this story will not, I repeat NOT, be yaoi. There is one scene in this chapter that, if you tend to like slash, could be read as such, but that's not my intent. If you want to see the two guys as possibly having a relationship, be my guest. I'm just not going to approach it from that angle in my mind.

Also, "White Nymph" fans will notice a discrepancy in a particular character's behavior in this story. Explanations to come. For now, put up with the poor girl, I beg you.

**Advancement, Episode 4: Unexpected Meetings**

The young woman came into the bar at sunset every evening and stayed until midnight, but she never ordered anything stronger than water. Once a group of mercenaries, made bold by the liquor quickly replacing blood in their veins, tried to purchase the "sweet thing at the end there" a red vino in hopes of maybe purchasing _her_ later that night; she split two men's lips and cracked another one's shinbone when they tried to force-feed it to her. "Don't force anything of _his_ on me," she'd growled, hand on her sword in a strangely military manner as the drunks wondered blearily where the carriage that hit them had gone. One of them, not taking his cue from his fellows' fates, went so far as to ask why she even bothered frequenting a bar in the first place; she shrugged and went back to her water, sipping contemplatively. "I'm waiting for news of someone," she replied vaguely, but would never expound.

Yet now apparently that news had come.

Shoulders stiff as she hunched on her barstool, the young woman kept her sharp blue eyes riveted on her water glass as the royal guards seated next to her conversed quietly about Palas's newly anticipated visitors. A new emperor, they said, sent to Zaibach from the Mystic Moon just like Dornkirk and that strange girl Schezar had taken a shine to. Mostly they just scoffed at the ridiculousness of the ascension system, but sprinkled like spice throughout their discussion was the mention of a red-clad army captain serving as the Mystic Moon boy's private guard. Missing for months, they said, and when he finally shows his weasly face what did the Empire do? Promote the bastard!

"Wish our system worked like that," laughed the guard closest to the woman; her hand jerked in a sudden spasm and sloshed water all over the bar. As they turned to look at her, noticing her presence for the first time, she pushed her stool away from the counter and stood, tossing a coin on the counter to the bartender as he hurried to clean up the mess. Then she walked rigidly out of the bar, pausing only to tell a man in the corner that the "deal for this week" was off and that he'd have to "do his own damn dirty work from now on; something more important's come up." The bartender watched his most faithful, if unprofitable, client stride out of his establishment with her head high, her blond ponytail snaking from side to side with each firm step. Shaking his own head, he dismissed her behavior as yet another crazy feminine trait.

"That's what happens if you let them play with swords," he suggested to his remaining clientele. "Something in those little heads just snap and they let their feelings rule their lives. What a pity." The men roared their consent and scorn for all those who let impulse dominate and returned eagerly, if ironically, to their alcohol. Still bewildered by the woman in spite of himself, the bartender resolved to ask her about her "new job" the next day.

But she never returned.

o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

The floating fortress was a bit on the small side for one of its kind, and Susumu was getting restless. He'd prowled one identical blue corridor after another in an attempt to divert his mind, but met with no success. Interaction with his companions had proved fruitless thus far. The boys under Dilandau's command weren't the talkative sort--he hadn't even been able to learn their names without asking each individually--and at any rate seemed to treat him with a sort of wary watchfulness he found unsettling. The engineers and pilots weren't much better; they tolerated his presence the way one might patronize a small child play-acting at being a king. As for Dilandau himself...

A clatter and thudding noise from the dojo signaled the young captain's latest activity. Hesitating in the doorway, Susumu watched in befuddled curiosity as the boy picked up his fallen sword, climbed a ladder he'd placed in the middle of the wooden training floor, and jumped down from it, slicing wildly at a stuffed dummy torso standing in front of the ladder. The tip of his blade scratched the fabric on the faded and torn dummy, but no stuffing burst out the way it protruded from other rips on the object.

Dilandau, growling, swore violently and kicked the dummy over, stabbing it repeatedly with his sword as he worked himself into a frustrated frenzy. "_Damn_ you _damn_ you _damn_ you _damn_ you _damn_ you--" With each expletive the blade tore deeper and his thrusts increased in violence. Stuffing flew from the abused dummy, landing all across the room. Blinking, Susumu grew embarrassed but, rather than leaving, coughed to alert the irate captain of his presence.

He had to cough several more times before Dilandau finally noticed the sound. Twisting his head around, he grinned wide-eyed at his Emperor; then, as his pupils focused and he realized where he was and who was watching, he frowned. "Well?" he demanded, seemingly unaware of the fuzz stuck in his disheveled silver hair and the still-manic flush across his pale cheeks. Unlike everyone else on the fortress, he neglected to rise or bow.

Realizing he had to reply somehow, Susumu swallowed and managed a weak smile. "Preparing for battle?" he asked. "You don't think you're going to have to jump down and attack--"

"I don't _have_ to," Dilandau drawled, setting his near-destroyed dummy upright again and repositioning it by the ladder. Climbing again, he paused on the middle rung and tilted his head reflectively. "I _want_ to. I want to take him by surprise, before he can draw, and then once I have him helpless..." He snickered. "I've waited a loooong time for this." Finishing his ascent, he vaulted off the ladder and landed like a crimson angel of vengeance square on the dummy, ripping its back open and dragging it to the ground with him.

Laughing, he finished the demolition his tantrum had begun, muttering to himself frantically as he ripped at the fabric but savoring every word. "And he'll scream, but no one will hear him...then he'll finally plead mercy...but he deserves none...and in the end he'll see that and go quietly, but only after making plenty of noise...nothing will go wrong this time..." Now speaking only to himself, his eyes bleared with visions of a dream long planned.

Susumu felt cold sweat trickle down his temple and kiss his neck. "Who exactly are you planning to kill?" he asked nervously. His opinion of Dilandau fluctuated between gratefulness at the disrespect the younger boy showed him and nervousness at some of his stranger habits. This side of the captain...went beyond strange into the realms of "dangerous". He didn't know if he could afford to bring someone "dangerous" to an international summit.

Dilandau grew nostalgic, almost fond as he spoke the single word. "_Van..._"

o0o0o0o0o0o0

"King Van." The young king turned around to see General Adelphos awaiting his attention, Allen Schezar by his side. This was not good. When Van had checked on Allen early that morning, the knight had been adamant that there was nothing anyone could do to save Celena. Had he changed his mind and confided in Dilandau's commanding officer in a fit of trust...and insanity? Yet on the other hand...

He nodded. "General. Allen."

Allen, for once, disposed of formality before the rest of his comrades. "Van, the new emperor's coming," he reported in a tone of badly reigned-in impatience. He even looked like a horse chafing at a bit--jumpy, tense, perhaps a little wide-eyed. "Immediately."

So something had changed the boy's mind about ruling? First he took Celena, and now this. _What kind of friends do you _have_ on the Mystic Moon, Hitomi?_ Van thought desparingly. _Surely you have better taste. _

He turned to Adelphos. "General?"

The man nodded; he didn't look so good himself. "Schezar encountered me shortly after I'd received the news. I must say it's not what I'd expected of the boy."

"I wouldn't put it past the Sorcerors to change his mind," Allen replied darkly. "They love having someone weak around to manipulate."

This was Allen Schezar, the epitome of diplomatic knightliness? Van sighed heavily, seeing Adelphos turn to regard the tall young man in surprise.

"Schezar, on what grounds can you make such a..." His disarmed tone belied a man used to defending his country's actions, regardless of his personal feelings. Van had come to know the tone well from dealing with countless delegates from the empire, as well as from Basram. He locked eyes briefly with Allen. Nodding once, he watched as Allen's eyebrows quirked in surprise. "Him?" the knight mouthed, consternation plain in his blue eyes. Then, sighing a bit, he nodded as well.

"General Adelphos, Allen's right," Van began, anticipating headaches in his near future accompanied by their constant companion, regret. Nonetheless he persisted. "There's something you need to know about Dilandau."

o0o0o0o0o0o0

"Van?" Susumu echoed in dread. "Not...Van Fanel?" Dilandau grinned in reply, and the brown-haired young man groaned inwardly. "That's not a good idea, Dilandau. He's king of an entire country and--"

"Not much of a country," shrugged Dilandau. "Even less now that it's been leveled. Don't know why they even bother with rebuilding; it's not worth the supply money..." Idly he picked up stuffing from the ground and began to work it beneath his fingers, shredding it still more and letting the pieces drift back onto the hardwood floor, the only organic surface in the entire transport. "And he's not much of a king either."

Thinking back on what little interaction he'd had with the young man, Susumu was forced to at least tentatively concede the point. "That may be...but even so, you can't do something like that. I won't let you."

Dilandau looked up, appraised Susumu out of the corners of his wine-red eyes. "...Won't let me?" he asked slowly. "You aren't Emperor; you can't forbid me anything." He looked away, clearly considering the conversation over but unable to resist a parting shot. "I'm only here to make sure you get back to the Mystic Moon before you mess with everyone's lives the way that bitch did."

Susumu blinked twice--once in confusion, the second time in disbelieving anger. Another instant, and he stood not three feet from Dilandau, grabbing the captain by the shirt and pulling him towards his furious face. "You take that back," he ordered quietly. "Disparage me all you like. But I won't have you speaking ill of Kanzaki." Letting the boy go, he watched Dilandau's mood smoothly shift from startled to indignant to sullen, noticed the way one hand rubbed the sword hilt it rested upon, but did not back down. "And what did she do, anyway?"

Dilandau spat on the floor. "She kept getting in the way, ruining all Folken's plans--and all of mine, too." The antsy hand migrated from the sword's smooth pommel to the captain's scarred right cheek, tracing the line of the cut with unconscious yet deliberate fervor. "She's responsible...responsible for everything."

Susumu crossed his arms. "You knew Folken?" he asked, remembering the name from something the Sorcerors had told him. "The last Emperor's killer?"

Dilandau laughed--a flat-out, nearly disbelieving gasp. "So that's what happened? Whoever would have thought...Sly to the end, Folken. But where was your famous caution?" Still pulling on his cheek, the reds of his eyes showed; Susumu flinched, unnerved. "I suppose he's in some prison somewhere now. Brooding, no doubt. Ah, Folken...even you can fall..."

"He's dead," Susumu told the young man bluntly, not in a mood to sugar-coat anything. Cynically, he didn't expect his words to have much of an impact.

Yet Dilandau's already pales skin grew ashen; his eyes twitched. "Dead?" he replied uncomprehendingly. "Folken...is dead?"

"That's what I was told. I'm sorry, Dilan--"

The next thing he knew, the captain's limp body was pressed against him for support, the boy's knees having buckled beneath him. Dilandau balled his fists in Susumu's shirt, shaking slightly; his head rested on the other boy's chest, just below the pendant. "Folken..." he mumbled in disbelief. "Folken could live through anything...could do anything...just like my Dragonslayers...like..." Crumpling all the way to the ground, his head left a perspiration mark on Susumu's shirt.

Susumu automatically caught Dilandau before the captain's head hit the floor, cupping one arm around the boy's neck and wrapping the other around his torso for support. He tried to steady Dilandau onto his feet again; the other boy choked and clapped a hand to his mouth in sudden nausea, so Susumu gently lay him down on the ground. "Easy...easy..." he stammered, not certain what he was saying or even what was going on. "You've still got them, Dilandau. Your Dragonslayers are still here. Gatty, and Shesta, and Dallet...they introduced themselves to me just yesterday. And me," he tacked on in a sudden impulse. "I'm here for you."

"You're useless..." Dilandau muttered, slack-jawed. "Can't expect anything from..."

"I'm useless _now_," Susumu corrected gently, trying to encourage the devastated young man any way he could. "I think if you taught me I could learn a trick or two. Your Dragonslayers think you're such a marvelous teacher. Want to spar, Dilandau? Want to fight?"

A trace of the old sadistic smirk twisted onto the pale face. "You're that eager to look like a fool?" He snorted weakly. "That might be fun."

o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

When Zaibach's new emperor descended from his transport, he wore a military-issue sword buckled around his waist. The alien weight hitting his side added an awkward roll to his gait, but he held his head high. Two paces behind him marched a young man, now in the full bloom of health once more, red armor standing out brilliantly amongst the blue bodies flanking him. The small procession disembarked outside the city to spare Asturia the trouble of clearing a space and preparing an official welcoming party; nonetheless they were met by a contingent of Asturian palace guards, who escorted the five young men to the canals. There they boarded a skiff waiting for their arrival and rode towards the capital by means of the rivers, passing under bridges and along streets packed with sightseers eager to catch a glimpse of the mysterious new delegates from the hated Zaibach Empire. No one had forgotten the district burned the previous year by an obviously demented rogue Zaibach pilot; the "red demon" was becoming a common scapegoat for inexplicable troubles.

No one noticed that one of the young women standing on a low bridge was armed until, sword already drawn, she'd sprung up and over the railing, plummeting down to the boat with frightening accuracy and landing heavily, rocking the transport and antagonizing every guard onboard in an instant.

"Hey you--" Ignoring their cries, she knocked every would-be defender out of the way with broad strokes, using the flat of her blade to knock the guards into the canal and simply kicking others out of her way--and out of the boat. For her part, she hardly seemed to notice the feather-hatted obstructions. Her sharp blue eyes perceived one man only.

Dilandau barely had time to draw his sword before she was upon him, parrying his attack with one hand while drawing a dagger from her belt with the other. Seeing the new weapon and judging her focus to be on it, he grinned and lunged, knocking the sword from her hand. She stumbled, not expecting resistance, and fell. The crowd gasped; the Emperor stared blankly at the naked sword in his own hand, wondering exactly now what he was supposed to do with it and marveling that yes, on this world people did indeed leap off of structures as a prelude to attacking. The girl tried to stand, but Dilandau kicked her back down. Instantly the blue-armored boys had her arms pinned to the deck of the boat while their Lord pointed his blade at her exposed, heaving neck.

"Stupid, girl..." he gloated. "Very stupid..." Then, staring at his assailant, he frowned in sudden recognition. "Rephina?"

Scowling at him from a tangle of honey-blond hair, the girl struggled against her captors, then looking them in the faces lay back heavily, every bit as surprised as the captain. "It can't be..." she breathed. "You're dead. You're all dead."

Susumu sheathed his sword and helped the Asturians, one by one, regain their posts on board the boat if not their dignity. As the men around him gained their footing (and control of the vessel) again, he tried his best to seem imperial. "Disarm her and let her go," he ordered the Dragonslayers. They hesitated. "Do it!"

Still they refused; the shortest, Shesta, gave his Lord a pleading look. Dilandau sighed. "Release her, boys. Your Majesty? You're a fool."

Susumu ignored the captain, helped the young woman stand. Though her clothing was distinctively Asturian--he'd noticed even from his brief trek down the canals that puffed sleeves and lace seemed to be vogue for these people--unlike most of the women, she wore black trousers stuffed into scuffed boots. Her pants looked familiar, in fact...almost the Zaibach military cut...

"Who are you?" he asked as a guard lashed her arms together behind her back; she offered no resistance, though whether from resignation or shock it was impossible to tell. She met his stare proudly, full lips set in a defiant scowl underneath a slightly pugged nose. Her face might have been pretty, Susumu reflected, had it not worn such a masculinely arrogant disdain. As it was, she was striking but by no measure beautiful.

"Rephina Jetura," she growled, flicking her eyes from him back to Dilandau. "Lieutenant of Zaibach. Or I was. Now you've got me back again. Good for you. What are you going to do about it, though? Kill me? Ha!" She tossed her head, flipping her ponytail off her shoulder and sending it swinging behind her head. "Or maybe you'll promote me. That seems to be imperial policy for incompetence these days. Don't you agree, my Lord?" The last phrase was flung at Dilandau with almost cheeky abandon.

Dilandau, for his part, was still trying to fit puzzle pieces together in his head. "Shouldn't you be on the _Vione_?" He clenched and unclenched his hands at his sides, trying to resist the urge to hit the girl. "What do you think you're doing?"

"The _Vione_ is flying with the fishes now, Commander. It sank into the ocean, right over there." She jerked her head in the direction of the far-off beach. "So now you can perform miracles, eh? Now the marvelous Dilandau Albatou can raise the dead." She sneered at him. "Tell me this, then. Who's next? Guimel? Planning on pulling Lord Folken from your pocket for your next act?"

"Don't try my pa--"

"_They're all dead!!_" Rephina shrieked, jerking her head towards the three boys in blue. "You said it yourself--when you returned--and Gatty's comm was on--we could hear everything at the beginning, until it suddenly stopped transmitting--that's when we knew--and all these months I've thought--how many made it out? Tell me!"

"Just those three," Dilandau reported smoothly but hollowly; Susumu had the impression that the imperturbable smirk on the boy's face was nothing but a mask. "My most _loyal_ soldiers."

The girl sagged noticeably at the first pronouncement but snapped back to life at the second, thick eyebrows jagging down like lightning over her electric-blue eyes. "Oh, I'll give you loyal--" she began; but apparently Dilandau tired of their banter, for he stepped forward and slapped her so violently that he knocked her, hands bound, to the floor. Dragging her up by her hair, he punched her face again, then let her drop to the deck unconscious. "Do whatever you want with her," he told the now highly uncomfortable guards dismissively, flexing the fingers in his right hand, his punching hand. "I'm done."

"You certainly are," Susumu mumbled wearily as the palace--finally--appeared before them. He could see a small congregation of richly-clad people waiting for him there, eager to get a look at this new upstart just like everyone else on Gaea. How unfortunate, then, that they had to feast their eyes not only upon a completely incompetent Mystic Moon boy but also an unconscious would-be vigilante, a possibly deranged imperial guard, and a contingent of soldiers apparently widely believed to be deceased. _How does that one song go?_ he asked himself wryly as he caught Van Fanel's angry eye. "_Send in the clowns"?_

_No, that's not quite right. _Smiling and shaking his head, he looked at Dilandau, who also had spotted the young man and stared with unbridled hatred; then he shivered. In retrospect, the lyrics fit a bit too well for comfort._"And where are the clowns? Quick, send in the clowns..._

_Don't bother, they're here."_

o0o0o0o0o0o0o

a/n: That song is from "A Little Night Music" by Stephen Sondheim (my hero! ahem); I think Amano is a show-tune kind of guy for some reason.

Next time on "Advancement": prisoner interrogations and Amano's first diplomatic meeting...which brings with it, ahem, other distractions. If I'm stellarly bored early this week, you may get to read it very soon. Otherwise...heh heh. NaNoWriMo's coming up, so I'm preparing to have my soul sucked.

Thank you all for reading!


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